Let's take a walk in my garden. I love that the Scriptures reference the growing and nurturing of things. It gives me so much joy when I garden and have much to enjoy from my efforts. I pick flowers to bring into the house or work, pick fruit and vegetables for my own nourishment as well as friends and family. Also, I enjoy watching the life that lives in my garden. There are insects, birds, spiders, moles and mice, rabbits - just all kinds of things! So as I tend this portion of land which has been made my responsibility, I want to be sure that I am a good steward of the land. I want to have the items in my garden thrive and live a healthy life. When they don't, I feel there is something that I have missed or not done very well. It can certainly be frustrating. One such plant is an Apricot tree. It's been in the ground now for 5 years and looks just beautiful for a dwarf fruit tree. However, it produces nothing! So I ask myself, how long should I wait on this tree to bear fruit? What is the limit of it occupying valuable space in lieu of something I am sure will be more productive? I have fertilized and pruned and watched for disease and insect infestation religiously and still...as if in complete disregard for my love and efforts, this tree relinquishes not even one fruit!
This tree puts me in mind of Luke 13:1-9. Jesus is trying to show the crowd that our heavenly Father will not be patient with us forever. He walks through the garden watching the performance of each plant and evaluating the harvest. Our heavenly Father, also evaluates the performance of the plants (us). They review together the performance of the material and Jesus Christ mediates for us. We must recognize the restraint that it takes for us to be given a second, third or more chance rather than just being cut down for a lack of performance. Some plants perform so slowly it takes more than a lifetime for them to bloom - like the Century Plant. How many of us are on the edge of being a beautiful fruit tree with no fruit? Are you content with staying in one place and at one stage of growth or are you ready to grow and produce fruit? Our Lord wants for you to be fruitful. Ask Him to show you what He wants for you to do. He has a plan for your life and all you need to do is ask Him to show you what the plan is. He will gladly show you and provide the necessary nourishment for you to continue to grow. What a wonderful gift that is.
" All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23
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